Episode 40 – Superstition

On this episode of the podcast, we explore superstition in its various forms and examine the ways Berkeley and Voltaire tried to eliminate it in their work. First, we think about the superstitions we subscribe to in our everyday lives, whether it’s “an apple a day keeps the doctor away” or “the key to happiness is buying lots and lots of stuff.” Next, we learn why Berkeley wanted to throw out the notion that true reality lies behind the veil of perception and find out his answer to that cliché question about a tree falling in the forest. Finally, we begin our discussion of Voltaire and find out why he called Christianity “the most ridiculous, the most absurd and the most bloody religion which has ever infected this world.” All this and more on the latest episode of Philosophize This!

It’s a great book you can get for free by signing up for Audible through our link. Best of all, you help keep the show alive! 🙂

If you’re buying something from Amazon anyway, if you click through this banner, the show gets a small percentage of the total sale! It adds up over the months! Some browsers can’t see the banner, Click here.

Additional Stuff For Anyone Interested:

Great concise Bio of Voltaire: http://www.egs.edu/library/voltaire/biography/

As always, Stanford: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/voltaire/

Great article on the origins of religious tolerance: http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=2095